YASED Puts Foreign Trade and Customs Issues on the Table

Ahmet Erdem, the Chairman of the International
Investors Association (YASED), stated that investors prefer to perform
activities in countries that have markets open to competition, which are transparent,
have free foreign trade, and possess an attractive business and investment
environment.

With the
participation of its members, the International Investors Association (YASED) -
which works to improve the business and investment environment in Turkey and
increase the country’s economic global competitiveness in a sustainable manner
- came together with Bülent Tüfenkci, the Minister of Customs and Commerce, and
his team on April 18 in Istanbul to discuss matters related to foreign trade
and customs.

During the workshop,
structural and sectoral solutions in foreign trade and customs to increase the
export potential of Turkey were evaluated. Suggestions that would contribute to
the sustainability of exportation were also discussed by the attendees; particularly,
concrete action proposals concerning regulations and implementation.

Ahmet Erdem, the
Chairman of YASED, stated that updating the foreign trade and customs regime in
accordance with global developments would support the foreign trade volume of
the country. Erdem also emphasized that the investors prefer to perform
activities in countries that have markets open to competition, which are transparent,
have free foreign trade, and possess an attractive business and investment
environment.

Erdem continued
his speech as follows: “Turkey achieved the fastest annual growth since 2013
with the 7,4 percent growth rate it has accomplished in 2017. An important leg
of this growth was exportation. Our exportation exceeded the 10 percent level
compared to the previous year and reached 160 million USD. The global developments
expected in 2018 are supporting our exportation. Our country positioning itself
as a regional centre in value-added areas that will support exportation by
international direct investors will create a multiplier effect on economic
growth. By protecting its intent to continue making structural reforms that
will increase the international competitive power of its economy, Turkey provides
reassurance for the international investors.”

Minister Tüfenkci: “2018 will be a record year in
exportation”

Bülent Tüfenkci,
the Minister of Customers and Commerce, who spoke at the workshop, stated that
solving the problems of the international investors concerning customs and
foreign trade and ensuring continuity in exportation are among the most
important tasks of the Ministry.

Minister
Tüfenkci, who stated that they are continuing to work for the economic growth
of Turkey at full speed, continued his speech as follows: “We implemented
important projects to encourage local and international investors to invest in
Turkey and to improve the investment environment. We provided important
incentives. Investors are investing in Turkey with trust in the dynamism of our
country. As a result of the business environment we provide to the investors,
2018 will be a year of leaps and records in exportation. We will be increasing
the contribution of exportation to growth. Within this framework, we need to
ensure competitive advantage by increasing efficiency in production and provide
product and market diversity in exportation. We will be taking concrete steps
to particularly turn young entrepreneurs, small businesses, and our tradesmen
into exporters and to have new exporters turn up. The goal of our Ministry is
to keep the pace with the technology and to open the way for legal and secure
commerce. For this reason, we are giving importance to electronification. With
the new “BİLGE” system that is in the design phase and is about to be
finalized, it will be possible to perform transactions in our customs without
using any paper at all. Our purpose in making these changes is to turn our
country into one of the most prominent commercial hubs where customs services
and commerce are performed with more ease and greater security. Our vision is
to incrementally decrease the physical controls in importation and exportation
and to facilitate the transactions in trade processes.”